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Financial Accounting & Reporting 2 Assessments: Teamwork Assignment

Assessment Description

Learning Outcome: Develop written and oral communication strategies to enable the effective presentation of accounting information to accountants and non-accountants.

The Assignment is designed to test the following skills:

1. Your knowledge and your ability to research the issues and then apply the information appropriately using judgement

2. Your communication skills and teamwork: team presentations and written: memo writing.

Team Research Assignment - Written Memo and Presentation

Details of Assignment:

The class will be grouped into (ideally) teams of 3. You must discuss the selection of teams with your lecturer who may decide to allocate you into teams or form teams using a random process. Your lecturer may accept a team of 4 members - but you need to discuss this with your lecturer, obtain approval and finalise your team members.

Select a set of financial statements for a group of companies and obtain approval from your lecturer for the group of companies that you have selected. Please note that two teams may not work on the same group of companies so if another team has already registered their interest in the particular group of companies you will be requested to select a different group of companies.

Read the annual report including the financial statements of the group and write a memorandum (a report format will not be marked) to the board of directors clearly explaining some of the technical aspects of consolidation. Make sure that you draw on the selected group of companies' specific details to explain the intricacies of consolidation to the board, and as much as possible avoid answering in general terms.

Some of the aspects that you need to cover as a team are:

1. The composition of the group; namely the subsidiaries, associates, any joint ventures and any other significant investments - summarise for memo

2. Why did the parent entity have to prepare consolidated financial statements when the subsidiary company is a separate legal entity in its own right? Is there a need for disclosure in the financial statements?

3. The non controlling interest - where would you find it in the financial statements and what does it represent? Details of any direct and indirect non controlling interest? What do these mean? Is it important to show them separately? Why or why not?

4. Has there been any goodwill on acquisition? Or any gain on bargain purchase? Where would you find it in the financial statements and what does it mean? Any impairment?

5. Intra-group transactions and balances: How much are they? In which set of financial statements will we be able to locate them? Are they an important part of the consolidation process? Why or why not?

6. Does the group have any foreign subsidiary companies? How have they been accounted for in the financial statements? How has the subsidiary company's financial statements been translated?

7. Does the published set of group financial statements reveal the company's policy on sustainability? Corporate governance? Audit committees? Solvency? Where and why? Is it compulsory to disclose these statements? Why or why not?

8. Any other relevant matter that you may wish the board of directors to make note of in respect of some transaction or event, balance of account or disclosure that will assist them in understanding the financial statements of the group.

Team Presentation

Your team is required to explain the financial statements of the group of companies you have selected to the board of directors making sure you bring to their attention any unusual or interesting information.

Your team presentation will be limited to 10 minutes (per group of 3) and each member of the team must present a part of it demonstrating individual oral presentation skills. A separate mark will be given to each member of the team for individual presentation skills.

Team Meetings

1. The team should have a minimum of three meetings (the team may have as many meetings as they need to) and should maintain minutes of those meetings detailing -

2. Where the meeting was held

3. People present; absent; apologies

4. What was discussed and agreed on;

5. The follow up action relating to each member of the team;

6. Any other relevant matter, things you agreed or disagreed on etc.

The minutes of team meetings should be included as an attachment with the written copy of your assignment - the memo.

Attachment:- Assignment.rar